Hanoi, January 21 (VNA) – A number of foreign news agencies and newspapers on January 21 ran articles on the opening ceremony of the 12 th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, highlighting the great significance of the event.

In its article, China’s Xinhua News Agency said that more than 1,500 official delegates representing over 4.5 million Party members are attending the Congress.

The article also emphasised the Congress’s main theme of “Promoting the building of a pure and strong Party, while putting into play the strength of the entire nation and socialist democracy, stepping up reform comprehensively and synchronously, firmly safeguarding the Fatherland and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, and striving to turn Vietnam into a modernity-oriented industrialised country”.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that the 12 th Congress will discuss and approve a socio-economic development plan for the next 5 years, with a target of maintaining impressive economic growth of nearly 7 percent a year – one of the highest rates in Asia.

With various trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, foreign experts and investors are calling on Vietnam to step up reform measures, including restructuring the banking sector and boosting equitisation of State-owned enterprises, according to the press agency.

US-based Associated Press (AP) also posted an article on Vietnam’s Party Congress, sharing that the congress will select the country's new set of leaders, including the Party General Secretary, the President, the Prime Minister and the National Assembly Chairperson.

The new leaders will hold a key role in deciding the speed of economic reforms, which “have brought a flood of foreign investment, created a fledgling stock market and helped triple per capita GDP to 2,100 USD over the past 10 years,” reported the AP.

Meanwhile, in its January 21 issue, the Vedomosti newspaper of Russia ran an article spotlighting the Congress’s significance, which will decide the development of Vietnam in the future.

Vedomosti reporters, who are in Hanoi, quoted the Congress’s documents as saying that this Congress focuses on main targets of “promoting the building of a pure and strong Party, and putting into play the strength of the entire nation and socialist democracy”.

The article wrote that during more than one week of working, delegates will review and assess the 30-year implementation of the Doi Moi (Renewal) policy, while examining the implementation of the 11 th Congress’s resolution, and outlining directions, tasks and national development targets for 2016-2020.

According the article, despite macro-economic difficulties, Vietnam, under the leadership of the Communist Party, maintained relatively high economic growth with gross domestic product seeing growth in the past five years./.